January 21, 2023 • 29 mins
Andy Murray bows out on Day 6 leaving Novak Djokovic the only Grand Slam champion remaining in the men’s draw — he now faces Alex de Minaur for a spot in the quarters, Aryna Sabalenka sets up a Round of 16 clash with Belinda Bencic — our expert panellists analyse the 12th seed’s win over Camila Giorgi, discuss her upcoming meeting with the Belarusian, and preview Day 7 action: Iga Swiatek v Elena Rybakina and Jannik Sinner v Stefanos Tsitsipas, Ursin Caderas gets to know American title contender Seb Korda, and who do the players dream of playing?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On match point forty fifteen, he serves heavily Tmitrov with
the sliced response forehand from Jokovic is good fourhand again
centrally down the middle of the court, opening up to Metrov.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
You know that Joko continues.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Domination of Gregor Dimitrov end straight sets.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
He's in the round.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hello and welcome to the AO Show. For a much
quieter Day six of the Australian Open. John Huvenar's bringing
you all the big news from Melbourne Park. Here's what's
coming up on the show. Murray's magical run comes to
an end.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
I feel like I gave everything.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
That I had to the Evan Djokovic jostles past Dimitrov.
Speaker 6 (00:48):
Up to the very last shot, I didn't know whether
I'm going to prevail or not.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Sabolenka and Benchicic to battle.
Speaker 7 (00:54):
I can see that being a three set encounter, but
I think I would back Sabolenka to just about come
out on top.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Plus all the keras aults from Day six, a preview
of Day seven and who are the players dream matchups?
Speaker 8 (01:05):
Ashabarsi I can put as a dream to play one
day against Ran.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's all ahead on the AO Show.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Match point.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Bautista good, and he'll serve to the back end of
Murray into the nets and the prey fights from Andy
Murray comes to an end in round number three.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Andy Murray's magical run has come to an end in
the third round at the hands of his twenty nineteen nemesis,
Roberto Bautista Agut. After dropping the first set six to one.
The fairy tale came alive momentarily when the five time
finalists saved set points in the second, which he won
in a tie break. But fatigue was an obvious factor
(01:51):
for Murray, who by that point had spent more than
twelve hours on court across twelve sets of tennis. He
committed ten unforced eras the third set, and despite breaking
his opponents serve to go to live in the fourth,
another fourteen unforced errors meant it was only a matter
of time. The artista a good twice finding a chink
in Sir Andy's armor to wrestle back the momentum and
(02:14):
win six one six, seven, six three six, four.
Speaker 9 (02:17):
Oh, he's playing and the on Islam is it's very tough.
So he knows the game very well. He knows very
well how to play Islam.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Match.
Speaker 9 (02:26):
So I'm very happy how I minute all the nerves
and all the tension during all the march, and I
could play very good tennis. And I'm very happy other win.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
An exhausted Murray left to reflect on a whirlwind week.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
How do I feel right now? Yeah, I mean lots
of mixed emotions. I mean, I feel like I gave
everything that I had to this event. So I'm proud
of that. And that is really in whatever you're doing,
that's oh you can do. You can't always control, like
you can't always control the outcome, you can't control how
(03:05):
well you're going to play or you know the result,
but you know, you can control the effort that you
put into and I gave everything that I had the
last three matches, so I'm very proud of that. But yeah,
I'm also I'm also disappointed because I put loads of
work into the beginning of this year, and you know,
(03:27):
I was playing well enough to you know, to have
a really good run and have a deep run. And
I think, you know, even tonight, you know, I'm competing
against you know, guy twenty in the world, you know,
and it's you know, still very tight, you know, considering
the circumstances, So I feel like, yeah, I'm disappointed because
(03:48):
I feel like I could have I could have gone
quite a bit further.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
And against centrally down the middle of the court opening
up to.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Now was a lasting chiot of Novak.
Speaker 10 (04:03):
Djokovic continues his domination and he's entered the fourth round.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
With Murray out, Novak Djokovic is the only former Grand
Slam champion left in the men's draw. The thirty five
year old shrugged off injury concerns to defeat Grigor Dimitrov
in three sets and book his spot in the fourth
round in Melbourne for the fifteenth time. Despite the score line,
it wasn't to walk in the park for the nine
time champ, who took more than three hours to nullify
(04:30):
the Bulgarian twenty seventh seed, who fired fifty three winners
past Djokovic. The fourth seed started well, holding the break
of serve until the tenth game of the first set,
which he eventually clinched in a tiebreak. He increased his
lead in a tidy second set, conceding just three unforced errors,
but Dmitrov was up for a fight in a hotly
(04:50):
contested third set, twice breaking the Djokovic serve before eventually
succumbing seven six six three six y four.
Speaker 6 (04:58):
Every point, really, every game mattered, and I think, you know,
the turning points sort of say for both players was
right from the from the blocks, you know, the very
first game, I think, you know, making an early break
for me was important. Obviously didn't know, you know, how
I'm going to feel physically, was kind of going up
and down. You know, Gregory is someone that I truly
(05:21):
admire and respect. You know, he's one of my best
friends on the tour. We go back a long time,
and he's one of one of the most talented players
that you'll see on the on the tour. He's been
around for many years. He's such a great athlete. You know,
I thought double break in the third was going to
(05:41):
be enough for me, but you know, he he was
locked in from that moment. You know, up to the
very last shot, I didn't know whether I'm going to
prevail or not. So, you know, it was an incredible battle,
three sets over three hours. You know, let's rest up
and prepare for next.
Speaker 11 (05:59):
One fitting way to end an improved service game.
Speaker 10 (06:08):
Saballenca marches into the last sixteen to the third consecutive
year at Australian Open.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Irina Sablenka made it look easy against her Grand Slam
winning doubles partner Alissa Mertens, dominating the rallies with thirty
two winners. It brings the fifth seeds twenty twenty three
winning streak to seven and no losses.
Speaker 11 (06:26):
And you to be a little bit boring un quote.
I mean, there still will be a lot of positive
emotions from me, but I'm just trying to stay away
from negative and just five for every point.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Sablenca's next opponent is Belinda Bencicch, who came out on
top against a persistent Camilla Georgie in two tight sets,
the Swiss twelfth seed, clinching the last service game to
love to progress six two, seven to five.
Speaker 12 (06:50):
She's very streaky, Hilario.
Speaker 13 (06:51):
She goes hot and cold a lot of times.
Speaker 8 (06:53):
So even though she broke me back after, I just
tried to keep doing the same thing and served itd
hours in the second chance.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Joining me at the roundtable today, our commentator Abigail Johnson
and Simon Ray is back from gig Abigail a bit
of a reprieve so far today from some of the
carnage we've seen in the previous three days.
Speaker 7 (07:13):
Carnage is right. I've been a little bit mind boggled
by this tournament, the Australian Open. It's the first Grand
Slam of the year. The energy is so good. Everyone's
driven to make a good start to their season, and
so it flumks me a little bit that so many seats,
particularly on the men's side, are dropping out when you
usually have a good idea of two or three out
of the four semi finalists who they're going to be,
(07:35):
but very much wide open, and it's nice to see
some stability coming through because it's great to see the underdogs, right.
It's great to see the new stories, but you do
want those players that are going to be carrying the
targets that everyone else is aiming for to keep that
focus to the storyline. So yeah, it's good to see
a little bit of order being restored today.
Speaker 14 (07:53):
I think.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So a straight sets win for ben Chitch Simon tell
us how she did.
Speaker 11 (07:57):
It for me?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
The serving numbers of this match tell really impactful and
strong story and important story. So I think it's not
very often a player wins more points on their second
serve than they do on their first Camilla Georgie on
her first serve. In the course of this match against
Belinda Benchich won forty nine percent of the points on
a first serve fifty percent of the points on a
second serve. Speaks to the quality of the Belinda Bencicc
return But only nineteen percent of the points on the
(08:21):
Kamilla Georgie first serve were unreturned, so she was forced
to work hard for her points. If you contrast that
down the other end, the Belinda Benchit service game, thirty
six percent of her first serve points were unreturned. So
that notion of those free points, that little bit of
breathing space in your service game and the ability to
put the pressure right back onto your opponent more quickly
and to roll through your service game. The first set
(08:43):
I think was really really impactful.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, Abigail, it's the second time Benchic has reached this
stage of the tournament and it's been a while since
she's been back. But having Dmitri Tersonov in her corner
seems to have really changed something for ben Chic. She
paid credit to him extensively in her press conference. What
did you observe out there today from the Swiss.
Speaker 7 (09:01):
I think for Benchitch she's in a really good place
right now. It was reflected pre tournament in Adelaide. She
won that title a week two of the events, so
that had her in a secure place moving in and
that was very recent, that was last week, so there
are the good feelings there. I was actually caught side
in Adelaide watching Benchic in a practice session and small
bits of guidance from her coach, and they seem quite
(09:23):
simplistic to me, but you could see the immediate change
from one point to the next when he gave her instruction,
so that's obviously something that she's feeding off. In my
observations from the match, if I'm going to be a
little bit picky, I thought benchicch was secure. She was
steady as she needed to be, but she didn't close
out the match at the first time of asking, and
that is something that I think a more experienced player,
(09:44):
a more high caliber player is capable of penalizing, where
Camilla Georgie, with her hot and coldness, she wasn't able
to take advantage of that. So I think that's the
one hole for Benchic. She's got the great batcan cross
court that she's always had. There is a degree of
versatility to her game. I say degree actually could go further,
but there's a degree that's just something to keep an
eye on heading further into the events.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah, and I think from the return a serve perspective,
now I'd like to delve a little deeper. So Camilla
Georgie from a return perspective in this match impacted one
hundred percent of the returns both first and second inside
of the baseline. And this is no secret.
Speaker 10 (10:19):
We know.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
We talk about this notion of Kamilla Georgie coming at
you and being relentless and taking away your time and
looking to make you uncomfortable or create discomfort in the
mind of the or the heart of the server at
every opportunity. But I think you need layers sometimes, and
I think you need options. And when you have a
look at second serve return points one in set one
from Camilla Georgie, not a single second serve return point
(10:40):
one well in set one. For me, the lack of
a plan B, or the lack of problem solving or
the refusal to go to a plan B, I think
tells a bit of a tale. And you know, I
think there's that there's that stubborn commitment to game style
and belief in game style everywhere you turn under pressure,
and then there's the inability to have a plan B
or refusal to acknowledge. Okay, I'm not going to return
(11:03):
from two meters behind the baseline, but I'm going to
change something here. I'm going to give my opponent a
slightly different look. I'm going to give myself a chance
to execute better on second serve return than I am
so far or thus far in the match. And that's
the momentum that I described earlier. I think Set one
set the tone for this match, and Belinda Benchich was
able to, despite whatever goes outline in terms of her
struggles closing out the match, was able to get the
(11:24):
type of lead that took a lot of the pressure
off her, removed all of the scoreboard pressure. So that's
something that I'd like to see change in the Georgia
game moving forward, is that element of it doesn't have
to be a significant shift, but layers or a little
more light and shade in her game to aid in
her problem solving well.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Benchich has an even bigger task in the fourth round
Arena Sabolenka, who was convincing today.
Speaker 7 (11:48):
That's going to be a really fascinating contest. I think
I find it tough to call from the outset how
that might go down, because both players are in form.
You've got the winner of the first week of Adelaide
up against the winner of the second week of Adelaide,
so two players that come in with a degree of confidence.
I think that Saberlenka is a player I've grown a
little bit skeptical over because she was one of the
(12:09):
ones I had my eye on when she was a
teenager coming through breath taking power that she's capable of.
But you speak previously about Miller Georgy and her lack
of layers. I felt that with Saberlenka for a long time,
and when you add the serving issues that she used
to have on top of that, it was not the
recipe for me of a player that was going to
hold up for seven matches straight. I think she's heading,
and I don't want to jinx this, but I think
(12:30):
she's heading in a really positive direction in terms of
making the necessary improvements and looking at how she can
continue to evolve as a player. So I might give
her the upper hand going into face Benchicch just because
Benchich for me, she won the Olympic gold medal in
twenty twenty one at the delayed Olympics. Is she ready
to take on Sablenka, who is establishing herself as a
(12:51):
front runner. I can see that being a three set encounter,
but I think at this point in time I would
back Sebolenka to just about come out on top.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I think I give Seballenka the age. Impressed by what
I saw from Sablenka today and dispatching merchants in relatively
straightforward fashion, and so I like the way she's shaping
up for this Australian Open twenty twenty three campaign. Benchich
as Abigail's described as building and that relationship with Dimitri
Tersenov that you spoke about, John, and there's some momentum
coming there. But I think, you know we described last
(13:18):
night and chatting with Roger on this podcast, the mental
toughness that Arena Sablenka's shown in where she was twelve
months ago with really what was to be frank, full
blowing yips on, serve to persevere through that, emerge out
the other side and really never really blink despite going
through what must have been a torturous kind of experience
at the AO twenty twenty two. I think that says
(13:39):
a lot about someone's resilience and what type of toughness
you demonstrate as a competitor to emerge through that and
be relatively unscathed and in fact may be better for
the experience.
Speaker 15 (13:56):
Good, relentless all A scrubber of black six.
Speaker 16 (14:02):
Four six, two six three.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Andre Rubelev has bulldozed his way past Dan Evans and
into the last sixteen for the third time in four years.
After some first set ebb and flow, the Russian fifth
seed didn't let Evans back into the match, firing ten
aces and hitting sixty winners treble the Britz count. It
sets up an enticing fourth round encounter with nineteen year
(14:26):
old Holgar Runa, who barged past Frenchman Ugo Umbert save
for a third set tiebreak. It's the pair's second meeting
after the Danes triumph on his way to the twenty
twenty two Paris Masters title.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
He's a super tough opponent. He's obviously playing well here.
He went in straight set as well I think today,
and he's you know, he's really solid, like fourhand back
and he can do anything in a tennis court. He
has no weakness.
Speaker 16 (14:51):
You have nothing to lose for the moment because he
was just going from underdog position all the time. But
this year we'll see he's going to be He's going
to be challenging for him and I have nothing tools
against him to the next time because he was the
one who who won our first March.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Alex Demonor is the sole Australian left in the singles
draws following a dominant straight sets performance against Benjamin Bonzi,
the twenty three year old's trademark court coverage helping him
win thirty three return games to the Frenchman's eight on
the way to a seven six six two six to
one win.
Speaker 17 (15:29):
If you want to go deep and you want to
really take it to the best place in the world,
that's that's the game plan. I mean, you've got to
step it up. It's no secret that against the best
in the world, you can't just put the ball in
the court and wait for them to miss because that's
just not going to happen. So yeah, it is a
(15:50):
conscious effort. But I think today I did what I
needed to do and got the job done.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So we move on Demonor advances to the round of
sixteen the second consecutive year. His opponent Novak Djokovic, in
a first time meeting.
Speaker 15 (16:05):
I've had experiences before. I played Late and Hewitt here.
You know, I played some big Aussie players, so I
know how that feels. I know what to expect, so
to say, from in terms of the atmosphere, and you know,
the match itself. The fact that I never faced him
(16:26):
is also challenging for both me and him. I think
we don't know much about each other's game but games,
but still we've we know each other pretty well because
you know, he's been around for quite a few years.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Nightfall local hero Alexi Poppron has been brought back to
Earth with a straight sets lost to unseated American Ben Shelton.
Popron was peppered with punches from his opponent's paddle, with
one serve clocking a brisk two hundred and twenty six
kilometers per hour. The six three, seven, six, six four
wins says Shelton, progressed to the second week of a
Slam in remarkable debut, incredibly only his first time outside
(17:04):
of the United States.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I've seen Poperin play his last few matches and he's
been bullying people around the court, so I thought it
was important today to try to take it to him.
And I'm really pleased with where I am right now.
Definitely a pinch me moment going in the fourth round
of the Assi.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Popperin admitted he was nervous coming on court, but denies
he was carrying extra pressure as the home favorite.
Speaker 13 (17:28):
I wouldn't change anything what's happened in the last month.
I think I've had well. I have had my best
experiences as a professional player, and I've had a crowd
chanting my name, and I've had the whole of Australia
behind me, which is a feeling that I'll never forget
and hopefully I'll get more of.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
In other results, jj Wolf ended the fairy tale run
of Michael Moe, who equals the best result by a
lucky loser in Australian Open history. Fellow American Jensen Brooksby
was unable to back up his seed slaying ways against
Casper Rude in straight sets by compatriot Tommy Paul. On
the women's side, Caroline Garcia managed to come back win
(18:06):
against German Lara Sigemund. The French fourth seed looked down
and out beaten badly in the first set on the
back of sixteen unforced errors, but Garcia sprang back to
life in the second, increasing her first serve percentage by
more than twenty to close it out one six sixty three,
six three.
Speaker 12 (18:24):
Maybe the sensation of today was not that great, but
remember it's his Grand Slam tournaments. This is his third round,
so even if you play some bad tennis, you have
to try until the end. Tried to fot, try to
find a solution, just push the ball back in the
court or whatever, but just do something different and make
the other one go for it. And that's what I
(18:45):
was trying to remember my sea, to remember myself. Maybe
it was not going to be some great tennis today,
but at least I had to try something.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
In Fort Art, Garcia's next opponent is Poland's mag Delannette,
who fended off nineteenth seed a Katerina Alexander about six
three sixty four to record her best ever result at
a major.
Speaker 18 (19:04):
Yeah, I'm still shaking. I don't know what's happening at
five to one, but until then I played so well
and then she raised her level and I just had
to keep playing but it was so hard because she
started playing really well. So I'm really glad that I
say composed and played the very solid last game.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Earlier, two time major finalist Carolina Plishkva cleaned up Varvara
Gratcheva in straight sets, hitting return winners and keeping her
serve tight to not face a single break point for
the match.
Speaker 11 (19:34):
Last couple years were tough, especially missing it last year,
but I think the conditions here there they can be
quite good for.
Speaker 19 (19:40):
Me and Croatias.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Donovekch has equalled her career best IR result, cruising into
the fourth round with a straight sets win over Nuriya
Parazas Dias.
Speaker 12 (19:49):
The last two matches, I've been playing really well, playing
better each match, so I'm really happy with my performance
and the way I'm playing.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Let's look ahead now to day seven and well, last year, guys,
we saw a quarter final match up between Janick Sinna
and Stefanov Sitsipas, who was responsible for ending the Italians run,
and we've got a rematch of that tomorrow in the
fourth round. It is one that a lot of pundits
have their eyes on.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
Well, I'm just rewinding back in time because I remember
commentating at least part of that match between Sitsapass and
Sinner last year, and I thought, I remember at the time,
I thought it would be a closer affair, and actually
I think sits Apass had a fairly handy hold on
that match. Moving on that Sinner has had so much
more match experience at this point. He got that win
over Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon, which was a big one.
(20:39):
Sinner has been consistently announcing himself across the best of
five set format. He's a great counterpuncher, he's a brilliant mover,
and then you've got sits a Pass who can be
at times a little bit unpredictable. He's already been in
some tricky situations on court. When he's in one of
those tricky positions, he steps up to take it on.
You won't really see him get passive. And I've been
(21:00):
impressed by his mentality time and again in Melbourne in
those situations in earlier rounds where he's been up against it.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
I give sits a Pass the edge from a serve
variety perspective and going through the heat maps and having
a look at the serve location data both here at
the Australian Open and previous tournaments. The sits A pass
serve is very very tricky to predict. There's no clear
pattern that emerges, so he does an outstanding job and
keeping the returner off balance and keeping the returner guessing.
No clear pattern emerges, so that's something that's really significant.
(21:29):
The Anix center serve, by contrast, perhaps on the ad side,
favors the one out wide, which you would naturally think
is going to be a factor in the match tomorrow
because it's at the sitsipas one handed back end, which
is generally the corner that the best players in the
world are trying to pin Steffan or sits A pass into.
But I'm not sure it's as cutting dry as that,
because sits apass is too good. If he gets a
read on predictability of the center serve, he's too good
(21:50):
a player. If he has even a slight sense that
it's going that way on big points, I think that's
something to look at watch out for. And then from
a returning perspective, it's sits A past that's much more varied.
In his return position, he can be up in the court,
he can be a long way back in the court,
particularly on the ad side. Janix Sinner, by contrast, wants
to back his return, wants to take time away, wants
to come at you. So perhaps Sinner's got more options
(22:11):
on the return game or looking to be more offensive
on the return game. But sits a past perhaps holds
a slide edge from a serving perspective. So there's an
intriguing kind of contrast with tomorrow's contest.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
In mind a second career meeting between igish Fiontek and
Alena Rabaikita, who knocked over Daniel Collins Abigail in the
third round. But this is as tough as it gets
against the world number.
Speaker 7 (22:31):
One, absolutely is. It was really tough coming in with
how open the women's fields has become to pick a
front runner when eagust fiancee could slightly, ever so slightly
dips off a red hot form coming into this event
with a loss that she took really harshly. Actually at
the United Cup we saw how upset she was when
she lost that match to Jessica Bagula. It was in
pretty straightforward fashion. But look, she's took up the mantle
(22:54):
from Ashley Barty so impressively over the last year and
has been truly exemplary. I think the question for people
was how long she can she run with that without
getting fatigued, like mentally as well as physically. But for me,
she's always been the front runner, and I think that
she stays there purely because of how she one sided
the qualifier Christina bookser in her last match, when as
(23:15):
we said, the seeds have been toppling that it has
been falling open this draw and with that, even more
spotlight comes onto Sriantec, and yet she was still able
to win that match for the loss of just one game.
She's uber focused and she's still able to take that
ball early, take time away, disguise her shots. She's the
player to beat if there's a player to challengerr right now, Rebeccaha.
(23:35):
She's got that big serve and I think someone would
agree that she's got the weapons to ask some questions
of Sriontek and see if she has the answers.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Tomorrow's matchups really enticing because
as dominant as swon Tech has been to this point,
I think rybu Kina does possess some things that potentially
can trouble swon Tech. So the heaviness of the forehand
or the hunting for the forehand of Rybakina. She wants
to dominate with that shot. She wants to damage with
that side. This won't be one way traffic and she
(24:03):
can match her on serve. So ryber Kina brings a
genuine weapon on serve. I'm not calling the upset, but
I'm saying this is upset alert potentially out there tomorrow
at Melbourne Park.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Day seven also sees a second career meeting between tenth
seed Hubert Hercutch and twenty ninth seed seb Corter, who
pulled off one of the upsets of the tournament on
day five against Daniel medvedev Erson Kaideris joins me now
Erson he's a very watchable player and a very likable personality.
Speaker 19 (24:32):
Definitely always very friendly when you see him in the hallway,
since maybe it's his surroundings to keep him so humble.
His dad's a former Australian Open champion, and Andre Agassi,
the tennis grade who's his mentor. He's twenty two, but
he knows exactly what he wants and he said to
me that this success here doesn't come as a surprise.
Speaker 20 (24:52):
I always know how or always think how good of
a tennis player it can be. You know, it's just
about you know, kind of building a body, going through
the process, working on a few things are in there,
new coaches, you know, and just you know, always kind
of trusting the process. As cliche as it sounds, you know,
just going after it every day, positive attitude, and yeah,
(25:15):
just trusting it.
Speaker 19 (25:16):
There was a nice moment before the match when you
walk through the hallway of champions. Can you describe what
you thought?
Speaker 20 (25:24):
Yeah, it was I played once in the junior finals.
They put us on Rod Labor, So I kind of
walked out on court and saw my dad there and
and now kind of just gave a fist bump to
my dad's and and Andre's plaque, billboard whatever whatever it is. Yeah,
they've they're very special to me. My dad especially kind
(25:46):
of want to do the things that he did when
during his career, and then obviously having a kind of
a mentor like andres very special to me. And he's
kind of brought me in kind of like family in
a way. And uh, kind of just giving fist pumps,
you know, maybe I could get their back hands a
little bit during the match. Yeah, it was really cool.
It was a great moment from it.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Like anyone, tennis players have dreams, things they wish for
or things they can't get out of their mind even
when they're sleeping. So we asked Felix Augia aliasim Elena Rabaikaner,
Holga runer On, Jebur seb Quarter, Karen Hutchinoff, Daniel Medvedev
and Anette Contivate to tell us their dreams or their
dream matchups.
Speaker 21 (26:29):
I can't remember when exactly, but it did have a
dream one time I was in the wind Women finals.
I think I was playing Novak.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Actually I hope I was winning. Hopefully.
Speaker 8 (26:40):
I will say that I would love to play maybe
with the ash Barsi again, because we had really nice
Mitch last year here and it was tough mich just
against her, and I think I can put as a
dream to play one day against her again.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
I'm dreaving a Grand Slam finals and right now I'm
dreaming of a final against Novakaen in Australian Open.
Speaker 14 (27:06):
I'll choose Grasp since I played good there, and maybe
one balloon like the tournament, and maybe I'll be playing Eminem.
I'm sure I would win. Not in a rapping thing,
but in tennis match it's my field for sure.
Speaker 20 (27:20):
My dad in Australia, I think that'd be insane. But
I also had one of my dream was to play
Nadal at the French Open on Chatrienna. I got that
dream kind of checked off last year in twenty twenty.
So I'll probably say my dad in Australia.
Speaker 21 (27:40):
I would play against at that time my favorite player,
marat Safin in US Open. That would be nice experience.
You know where he was winning his first lamp, beating
Samples in the final, you know, destroying everyone. So I
would love to play against his best version at that time.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I would say playing marat Safen in Australia up.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
Rod Labor.
Speaker 21 (28:04):
It's just the only thing.
Speaker 6 (28:04):
I don't know if it was Rod labor arena already
when he played the final against Layton.
Speaker 21 (28:10):
So I would like to play this match. This could
be a lot of fun.
Speaker 10 (28:13):
I would actually love to play some of my friends,
maybe Ons or Maria. Would be amazing to play in
front of my home crowd. I think that would It's
a very realistic dream. I think we'll make it happen
one day.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
And that's that for Day six of the Australian Open,
but plenty more big stories around the corner on day seven.
Join me again tomorrow as the fourth round gets underway.
In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to The AO Show,
and if you like what you're here, please leave a
rating and a comment that'll help more fans find us
and enjoy all of the great content we have to
offer on The AO Show.
Speaker 15 (29:00):
Two
On match point forty fifteen, he serves heavily Tmitrov with
the sliced response forehand from Jokovic is good fourhand again
centrally down the middle of the court, opening up to Metrov.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
You know that Joko continues.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Domination of Gregor Dimitrov end straight sets.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
He's in the round.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hello and welcome to the AO Show. For a much
quieter Day six of the Australian Open. John Huvenar's bringing
you all the big news from Melbourne Park. Here's what's
coming up on the show. Murray's magical run comes to
an end.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
I feel like I gave everything.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
That I had to the Evan Djokovic jostles past Dimitrov.
Speaker 6 (00:48):
Up to the very last shot, I didn't know whether
I'm going to prevail or not.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Sabolenka and Benchicic to battle.
Speaker 7 (00:54):
I can see that being a three set encounter, but
I think I would back Sabolenka to just about come
out on top.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Plus all the keras aults from Day six, a preview
of Day seven and who are the players dream matchups?
Speaker 8 (01:05):
Ashabarsi I can put as a dream to play one
day against Ran.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's all ahead on the AO Show.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Match point.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Bautista good, and he'll serve to the back end of
Murray into the nets and the prey fights from Andy
Murray comes to an end in round number three.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Andy Murray's magical run has come to an end in
the third round at the hands of his twenty nineteen nemesis,
Roberto Bautista Agut. After dropping the first set six to one.
The fairy tale came alive momentarily when the five time
finalists saved set points in the second, which he won
in a tie break. But fatigue was an obvious factor
(01:51):
for Murray, who by that point had spent more than
twelve hours on court across twelve sets of tennis. He
committed ten unforced eras the third set, and despite breaking
his opponents serve to go to live in the fourth,
another fourteen unforced errors meant it was only a matter
of time. The artista a good twice finding a chink
in Sir Andy's armor to wrestle back the momentum and
(02:14):
win six one six, seven, six three six, four.
Speaker 9 (02:17):
Oh, he's playing and the on Islam is it's very tough.
So he knows the game very well. He knows very
well how to play Islam.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Match.
Speaker 9 (02:26):
So I'm very happy how I minute all the nerves
and all the tension during all the march, and I
could play very good tennis. And I'm very happy other win.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
An exhausted Murray left to reflect on a whirlwind week.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
How do I feel right now? Yeah, I mean lots
of mixed emotions. I mean, I feel like I gave
everything that I had to this event. So I'm proud
of that. And that is really in whatever you're doing,
that's oh you can do. You can't always control, like
you can't always control the outcome, you can't control how
(03:05):
well you're going to play or you know the result,
but you know, you can control the effort that you
put into and I gave everything that I had the
last three matches, so I'm very proud of that. But yeah,
I'm also I'm also disappointed because I put loads of
work into the beginning of this year, and you know,
(03:27):
I was playing well enough to you know, to have
a really good run and have a deep run. And
I think, you know, even tonight, you know, I'm competing
against you know, guy twenty in the world, you know,
and it's you know, still very tight, you know, considering
the circumstances, So I feel like, yeah, I'm disappointed because
(03:48):
I feel like I could have I could have gone
quite a bit further.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
And against centrally down the middle of the court opening
up to.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Now was a lasting chiot of Novak.
Speaker 10 (04:03):
Djokovic continues his domination and he's entered the fourth round.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
With Murray out, Novak Djokovic is the only former Grand
Slam champion left in the men's draw. The thirty five
year old shrugged off injury concerns to defeat Grigor Dimitrov
in three sets and book his spot in the fourth
round in Melbourne for the fifteenth time. Despite the score line,
it wasn't to walk in the park for the nine
time champ, who took more than three hours to nullify
(04:30):
the Bulgarian twenty seventh seed, who fired fifty three winners
past Djokovic. The fourth seed started well, holding the break
of serve until the tenth game of the first set,
which he eventually clinched in a tiebreak. He increased his
lead in a tidy second set, conceding just three unforced errors,
but Dmitrov was up for a fight in a hotly
(04:50):
contested third set, twice breaking the Djokovic serve before eventually
succumbing seven six six three six y four.
Speaker 6 (04:58):
Every point, really, every game mattered, and I think, you know,
the turning points sort of say for both players was
right from the from the blocks, you know, the very
first game, I think, you know, making an early break
for me was important. Obviously didn't know, you know, how
I'm going to feel physically, was kind of going up
and down. You know, Gregory is someone that I truly
(05:21):
admire and respect. You know, he's one of my best
friends on the tour. We go back a long time,
and he's one of one of the most talented players
that you'll see on the on the tour. He's been
around for many years. He's such a great athlete. You know,
I thought double break in the third was going to
(05:41):
be enough for me, but you know, he he was
locked in from that moment. You know, up to the
very last shot, I didn't know whether I'm going to
prevail or not. So, you know, it was an incredible battle,
three sets over three hours. You know, let's rest up
and prepare for next.
Speaker 11 (05:59):
One fitting way to end an improved service game.
Speaker 10 (06:08):
Saballenca marches into the last sixteen to the third consecutive
year at Australian Open.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Irina Sablenka made it look easy against her Grand Slam
winning doubles partner Alissa Mertens, dominating the rallies with thirty
two winners. It brings the fifth seeds twenty twenty three
winning streak to seven and no losses.
Speaker 11 (06:26):
And you to be a little bit boring un quote.
I mean, there still will be a lot of positive
emotions from me, but I'm just trying to stay away
from negative and just five for every point.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Sablenca's next opponent is Belinda Bencicch, who came out on
top against a persistent Camilla Georgie in two tight sets,
the Swiss twelfth seed, clinching the last service game to
love to progress six two, seven to five.
Speaker 12 (06:50):
She's very streaky, Hilario.
Speaker 13 (06:51):
She goes hot and cold a lot of times.
Speaker 8 (06:53):
So even though she broke me back after, I just
tried to keep doing the same thing and served itd
hours in the second chance.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Joining me at the roundtable today, our commentator Abigail Johnson
and Simon Ray is back from gig Abigail a bit
of a reprieve so far today from some of the
carnage we've seen in the previous three days.
Speaker 7 (07:13):
Carnage is right. I've been a little bit mind boggled
by this tournament, the Australian Open. It's the first Grand
Slam of the year. The energy is so good. Everyone's
driven to make a good start to their season, and
so it flumks me a little bit that so many seats,
particularly on the men's side, are dropping out when you
usually have a good idea of two or three out
of the four semi finalists who they're going to be,
(07:35):
but very much wide open, and it's nice to see
some stability coming through because it's great to see the underdogs, right.
It's great to see the new stories, but you do
want those players that are going to be carrying the
targets that everyone else is aiming for to keep that
focus to the storyline. So yeah, it's good to see
a little bit of order being restored today.
Speaker 14 (07:53):
I think.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So a straight sets win for ben Chitch Simon tell
us how she did.
Speaker 11 (07:57):
It for me?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
The serving numbers of this match tell really impactful and
strong story and important story. So I think it's not
very often a player wins more points on their second
serve than they do on their first Camilla Georgie on
her first serve. In the course of this match against
Belinda Benchich won forty nine percent of the points on
a first serve fifty percent of the points on a
second serve. Speaks to the quality of the Belinda Bencicc
return But only nineteen percent of the points on the
(08:21):
Kamilla Georgie first serve were unreturned, so she was forced
to work hard for her points. If you contrast that
down the other end, the Belinda Benchit service game, thirty
six percent of her first serve points were unreturned. So
that notion of those free points, that little bit of
breathing space in your service game and the ability to
put the pressure right back onto your opponent more quickly
and to roll through your service game. The first set
(08:43):
I think was really really impactful.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, Abigail, it's the second time Benchic has reached this
stage of the tournament and it's been a while since
she's been back. But having Dmitri Tersonov in her corner
seems to have really changed something for ben Chic. She
paid credit to him extensively in her press conference. What
did you observe out there today from the Swiss.
Speaker 7 (09:01):
I think for Benchitch she's in a really good place
right now. It was reflected pre tournament in Adelaide. She
won that title a week two of the events, so
that had her in a secure place moving in and
that was very recent, that was last week, so there
are the good feelings there. I was actually caught side
in Adelaide watching Benchic in a practice session and small
bits of guidance from her coach, and they seem quite
(09:23):
simplistic to me, but you could see the immediate change
from one point to the next when he gave her instruction,
so that's obviously something that she's feeding off. In my
observations from the match, if I'm going to be a
little bit picky, I thought benchicch was secure. She was
steady as she needed to be, but she didn't close
out the match at the first time of asking, and
that is something that I think a more experienced player,
(09:44):
a more high caliber player is capable of penalizing, where
Camilla Georgie, with her hot and coldness, she wasn't able
to take advantage of that. So I think that's the
one hole for Benchic. She's got the great batcan cross
court that she's always had. There is a degree of
versatility to her game. I say degree actually could go further,
but there's a degree that's just something to keep an
eye on heading further into the events.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah, and I think from the return a serve perspective,
now I'd like to delve a little deeper. So Camilla
Georgie from a return perspective in this match impacted one
hundred percent of the returns both first and second inside
of the baseline. And this is no secret.
Speaker 10 (10:19):
We know.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
We talk about this notion of Kamilla Georgie coming at
you and being relentless and taking away your time and
looking to make you uncomfortable or create discomfort in the
mind of the or the heart of the server at
every opportunity. But I think you need layers sometimes, and
I think you need options. And when you have a
look at second serve return points one in set one
from Camilla Georgie, not a single second serve return point
(10:40):
one well in set one. For me, the lack of
a plan B, or the lack of problem solving or
the refusal to go to a plan B, I think
tells a bit of a tale. And you know, I
think there's that there's that stubborn commitment to game style
and belief in game style everywhere you turn under pressure,
and then there's the inability to have a plan B
or refusal to acknowledge. Okay, I'm not going to return
(11:03):
from two meters behind the baseline, but I'm going to
change something here. I'm going to give my opponent a
slightly different look. I'm going to give myself a chance
to execute better on second serve return than I am
so far or thus far in the match. And that's
the momentum that I described earlier. I think Set one
set the tone for this match, and Belinda Benchich was
able to, despite whatever goes outline in terms of her
struggles closing out the match, was able to get the
(11:24):
type of lead that took a lot of the pressure
off her, removed all of the scoreboard pressure. So that's
something that I'd like to see change in the Georgia
game moving forward, is that element of it doesn't have
to be a significant shift, but layers or a little
more light and shade in her game to aid in
her problem solving well.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Benchich has an even bigger task in the fourth round
Arena Sabolenka, who was convincing today.
Speaker 7 (11:48):
That's going to be a really fascinating contest. I think
I find it tough to call from the outset how
that might go down, because both players are in form.
You've got the winner of the first week of Adelaide
up against the winner of the second week of Adelaide,
so two players that come in with a degree of confidence.
I think that Saberlenka is a player I've grown a
little bit skeptical over because she was one of the
(12:09):
ones I had my eye on when she was a
teenager coming through breath taking power that she's capable of.
But you speak previously about Miller Georgy and her lack
of layers. I felt that with Saberlenka for a long time,
and when you add the serving issues that she used
to have on top of that, it was not the
recipe for me of a player that was going to
hold up for seven matches straight. I think she's heading,
and I don't want to jinx this, but I think
(12:30):
she's heading in a really positive direction in terms of
making the necessary improvements and looking at how she can
continue to evolve as a player. So I might give
her the upper hand going into face Benchicch just because
Benchich for me, she won the Olympic gold medal in
twenty twenty one at the delayed Olympics. Is she ready
to take on Sablenka, who is establishing herself as a
(12:51):
front runner. I can see that being a three set encounter,
but I think at this point in time I would
back Sebolenka to just about come out on top.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I think I give Seballenka the age. Impressed by what
I saw from Sablenka today and dispatching merchants in relatively
straightforward fashion, and so I like the way she's shaping
up for this Australian Open twenty twenty three campaign. Benchich
as Abigail's described as building and that relationship with Dimitri
Tersenov that you spoke about, John, and there's some momentum
coming there. But I think, you know we described last
(13:18):
night and chatting with Roger on this podcast, the mental
toughness that Arena Sablenka's shown in where she was twelve
months ago with really what was to be frank, full
blowing yips on, serve to persevere through that, emerge out
the other side and really never really blink despite going
through what must have been a torturous kind of experience
at the AO twenty twenty two. I think that says
(13:39):
a lot about someone's resilience and what type of toughness
you demonstrate as a competitor to emerge through that and
be relatively unscathed and in fact may be better for
the experience.
Speaker 15 (13:56):
Good, relentless all A scrubber of black six.
Speaker 16 (14:02):
Four six, two six three.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Andre Rubelev has bulldozed his way past Dan Evans and
into the last sixteen for the third time in four years.
After some first set ebb and flow, the Russian fifth
seed didn't let Evans back into the match, firing ten
aces and hitting sixty winners treble the Britz count. It
sets up an enticing fourth round encounter with nineteen year
(14:26):
old Holgar Runa, who barged past Frenchman Ugo Umbert save
for a third set tiebreak. It's the pair's second meeting
after the Danes triumph on his way to the twenty
twenty two Paris Masters title.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
He's a super tough opponent. He's obviously playing well here.
He went in straight set as well I think today,
and he's you know, he's really solid, like fourhand back
and he can do anything in a tennis court. He
has no weakness.
Speaker 16 (14:51):
You have nothing to lose for the moment because he
was just going from underdog position all the time. But
this year we'll see he's going to be He's going
to be challenging for him and I have nothing tools
against him to the next time because he was the
one who who won our first March.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Alex Demonor is the sole Australian left in the singles
draws following a dominant straight sets performance against Benjamin Bonzi,
the twenty three year old's trademark court coverage helping him
win thirty three return games to the Frenchman's eight on
the way to a seven six six two six to
one win.
Speaker 17 (15:29):
If you want to go deep and you want to
really take it to the best place in the world,
that's that's the game plan. I mean, you've got to
step it up. It's no secret that against the best
in the world, you can't just put the ball in
the court and wait for them to miss because that's
just not going to happen. So yeah, it is a
(15:50):
conscious effort. But I think today I did what I
needed to do and got the job done.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So we move on Demonor advances to the round of
sixteen the second consecutive year. His opponent Novak Djokovic, in
a first time meeting.
Speaker 15 (16:05):
I've had experiences before. I played Late and Hewitt here.
You know, I played some big Aussie players, so I
know how that feels. I know what to expect, so
to say, from in terms of the atmosphere, and you know,
the match itself. The fact that I never faced him
(16:26):
is also challenging for both me and him. I think
we don't know much about each other's game but games,
but still we've we know each other pretty well because
you know, he's been around for quite a few years.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Nightfall local hero Alexi Poppron has been brought back to
Earth with a straight sets lost to unseated American Ben Shelton.
Popron was peppered with punches from his opponent's paddle, with
one serve clocking a brisk two hundred and twenty six
kilometers per hour. The six three, seven, six, six four
wins says Shelton, progressed to the second week of a
Slam in remarkable debut, incredibly only his first time outside
(17:04):
of the United States.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I've seen Poperin play his last few matches and he's
been bullying people around the court, so I thought it
was important today to try to take it to him.
And I'm really pleased with where I am right now.
Definitely a pinch me moment going in the fourth round
of the Assi.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Popperin admitted he was nervous coming on court, but denies
he was carrying extra pressure as the home favorite.
Speaker 13 (17:28):
I wouldn't change anything what's happened in the last month.
I think I've had well. I have had my best
experiences as a professional player, and I've had a crowd
chanting my name, and I've had the whole of Australia
behind me, which is a feeling that I'll never forget
and hopefully I'll get more of.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
In other results, jj Wolf ended the fairy tale run
of Michael Moe, who equals the best result by a
lucky loser in Australian Open history. Fellow American Jensen Brooksby
was unable to back up his seed slaying ways against
Casper Rude in straight sets by compatriot Tommy Paul. On
the women's side, Caroline Garcia managed to come back win
(18:06):
against German Lara Sigemund. The French fourth seed looked down
and out beaten badly in the first set on the
back of sixteen unforced errors, but Garcia sprang back to
life in the second, increasing her first serve percentage by
more than twenty to close it out one six sixty three,
six three.
Speaker 12 (18:24):
Maybe the sensation of today was not that great, but
remember it's his Grand Slam tournaments. This is his third round,
so even if you play some bad tennis, you have
to try until the end. Tried to fot, try to
find a solution, just push the ball back in the
court or whatever, but just do something different and make
the other one go for it. And that's what I
(18:45):
was trying to remember my sea, to remember myself. Maybe
it was not going to be some great tennis today,
but at least I had to try something.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
In Fort Art, Garcia's next opponent is Poland's mag Delannette,
who fended off nineteenth seed a Katerina Alexander about six
three sixty four to record her best ever result at
a major.
Speaker 18 (19:04):
Yeah, I'm still shaking. I don't know what's happening at
five to one, but until then I played so well
and then she raised her level and I just had
to keep playing but it was so hard because she
started playing really well. So I'm really glad that I
say composed and played the very solid last game.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Earlier, two time major finalist Carolina Plishkva cleaned up Varvara
Gratcheva in straight sets, hitting return winners and keeping her
serve tight to not face a single break point for
the match.
Speaker 11 (19:34):
Last couple years were tough, especially missing it last year,
but I think the conditions here there they can be
quite good for.
Speaker 19 (19:40):
Me and Croatias.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Donovekch has equalled her career best IR result, cruising into
the fourth round with a straight sets win over Nuriya
Parazas Dias.
Speaker 12 (19:49):
The last two matches, I've been playing really well, playing
better each match, so I'm really happy with my performance
and the way I'm playing.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Let's look ahead now to day seven and well, last year, guys,
we saw a quarter final match up between Janick Sinna
and Stefanov Sitsipas, who was responsible for ending the Italians run,
and we've got a rematch of that tomorrow in the
fourth round. It is one that a lot of pundits
have their eyes on.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
Well, I'm just rewinding back in time because I remember
commentating at least part of that match between Sitsapass and
Sinner last year, and I thought, I remember at the time,
I thought it would be a closer affair, and actually
I think sits Apass had a fairly handy hold on
that match. Moving on that Sinner has had so much
more match experience at this point. He got that win
over Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon, which was a big one.
(20:39):
Sinner has been consistently announcing himself across the best of
five set format. He's a great counterpuncher, he's a brilliant mover,
and then you've got sits a Pass who can be
at times a little bit unpredictable. He's already been in
some tricky situations on court. When he's in one of
those tricky positions, he steps up to take it on.
You won't really see him get passive. And I've been
(21:00):
impressed by his mentality time and again in Melbourne in
those situations in earlier rounds where he's been up against it.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
I give sits a Pass the edge from a serve
variety perspective and going through the heat maps and having
a look at the serve location data both here at
the Australian Open and previous tournaments. The sits A pass
serve is very very tricky to predict. There's no clear
pattern that emerges, so he does an outstanding job and
keeping the returner off balance and keeping the returner guessing.
No clear pattern emerges, so that's something that's really significant.
(21:29):
The Anix center serve, by contrast, perhaps on the ad side,
favors the one out wide, which you would naturally think
is going to be a factor in the match tomorrow
because it's at the sitsipas one handed back end, which
is generally the corner that the best players in the
world are trying to pin Steffan or sits A pass into.
But I'm not sure it's as cutting dry as that,
because sits apass is too good. If he gets a
read on predictability of the center serve, he's too good
(21:50):
a player. If he has even a slight sense that
it's going that way on big points, I think that's
something to look at watch out for. And then from
a returning perspective, it's sits A past that's much more varied.
In his return position, he can be up in the court,
he can be a long way back in the court,
particularly on the ad side. Janix Sinner, by contrast, wants
to back his return, wants to take time away, wants
to come at you. So perhaps Sinner's got more options
(22:11):
on the return game or looking to be more offensive
on the return game. But sits a past perhaps holds
a slide edge from a serving perspective. So there's an
intriguing kind of contrast with tomorrow's contest.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
In mind a second career meeting between igish Fiontek and
Alena Rabaikita, who knocked over Daniel Collins Abigail in the
third round. But this is as tough as it gets
against the world number.
Speaker 7 (22:31):
One, absolutely is. It was really tough coming in with
how open the women's fields has become to pick a
front runner when eagust fiancee could slightly, ever so slightly
dips off a red hot form coming into this event
with a loss that she took really harshly. Actually at
the United Cup we saw how upset she was when
she lost that match to Jessica Bagula. It was in
pretty straightforward fashion. But look, she's took up the mantle
(22:54):
from Ashley Barty so impressively over the last year and
has been truly exemplary. I think the question for people
was how long she can she run with that without
getting fatigued, like mentally as well as physically. But for me,
she's always been the front runner, and I think that
she stays there purely because of how she one sided
the qualifier Christina bookser in her last match, when as
(23:15):
we said, the seeds have been toppling that it has
been falling open this draw and with that, even more
spotlight comes onto Sriantec, and yet she was still able
to win that match for the loss of just one game.
She's uber focused and she's still able to take that
ball early, take time away, disguise her shots. She's the
player to beat if there's a player to challengerr right now, Rebeccaha.
(23:35):
She's got that big serve and I think someone would
agree that she's got the weapons to ask some questions
of Sriontek and see if she has the answers.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Tomorrow's matchups really enticing because
as dominant as swon Tech has been to this point,
I think rybu Kina does possess some things that potentially
can trouble swon Tech. So the heaviness of the forehand
or the hunting for the forehand of Rybakina. She wants
to dominate with that shot. She wants to damage with
that side. This won't be one way traffic and she
(24:03):
can match her on serve. So ryber Kina brings a
genuine weapon on serve. I'm not calling the upset, but
I'm saying this is upset alert potentially out there tomorrow
at Melbourne Park.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Day seven also sees a second career meeting between tenth
seed Hubert Hercutch and twenty ninth seed seb Corter, who
pulled off one of the upsets of the tournament on
day five against Daniel medvedev Erson Kaideris joins me now
Erson he's a very watchable player and a very likable personality.
Speaker 19 (24:32):
Definitely always very friendly when you see him in the hallway,
since maybe it's his surroundings to keep him so humble.
His dad's a former Australian Open champion, and Andre Agassi,
the tennis grade who's his mentor. He's twenty two, but
he knows exactly what he wants and he said to
me that this success here doesn't come as a surprise.
Speaker 20 (24:52):
I always know how or always think how good of
a tennis player it can be. You know, it's just
about you know, kind of building a body, going through
the process, working on a few things are in there,
new coaches, you know, and just you know, always kind
of trusting the process. As cliche as it sounds, you know,
just going after it every day, positive attitude, and yeah,
(25:15):
just trusting it.
Speaker 19 (25:16):
There was a nice moment before the match when you
walk through the hallway of champions. Can you describe what
you thought?
Speaker 20 (25:24):
Yeah, it was I played once in the junior finals.
They put us on Rod Labor, So I kind of
walked out on court and saw my dad there and
and now kind of just gave a fist bump to
my dad's and and Andre's plaque, billboard whatever whatever it is. Yeah,
they've they're very special to me. My dad especially kind
(25:46):
of want to do the things that he did when
during his career, and then obviously having a kind of
a mentor like andres very special to me. And he's
kind of brought me in kind of like family in
a way. And uh, kind of just giving fist pumps,
you know, maybe I could get their back hands a
little bit during the match. Yeah, it was really cool.
It was a great moment from it.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Like anyone, tennis players have dreams, things they wish for
or things they can't get out of their mind even
when they're sleeping. So we asked Felix Augia aliasim Elena Rabaikaner,
Holga runer On, Jebur seb Quarter, Karen Hutchinoff, Daniel Medvedev
and Anette Contivate to tell us their dreams or their
dream matchups.
Speaker 21 (26:29):
I can't remember when exactly, but it did have a
dream one time I was in the wind Women finals.
I think I was playing Novak.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Actually I hope I was winning. Hopefully.
Speaker 8 (26:40):
I will say that I would love to play maybe
with the ash Barsi again, because we had really nice
Mitch last year here and it was tough mich just
against her, and I think I can put as a
dream to play one day against her again.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
I'm dreaving a Grand Slam finals and right now I'm
dreaming of a final against Novakaen in Australian Open.
Speaker 14 (27:06):
I'll choose Grasp since I played good there, and maybe
one balloon like the tournament, and maybe I'll be playing Eminem.
I'm sure I would win. Not in a rapping thing,
but in tennis match it's my field for sure.
Speaker 20 (27:20):
My dad in Australia, I think that'd be insane. But
I also had one of my dream was to play
Nadal at the French Open on Chatrienna. I got that
dream kind of checked off last year in twenty twenty.
So I'll probably say my dad in Australia.
Speaker 21 (27:40):
I would play against at that time my favorite player,
marat Safin in US Open. That would be nice experience.
You know where he was winning his first lamp, beating
Samples in the final, you know, destroying everyone. So I
would love to play against his best version at that time.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I would say playing marat Safen in Australia up.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
Rod Labor.
Speaker 21 (28:04):
It's just the only thing.
Speaker 6 (28:04):
I don't know if it was Rod labor arena already
when he played the final against Layton.
Speaker 21 (28:10):
So I would like to play this match. This could
be a lot of fun.
Speaker 10 (28:13):
I would actually love to play some of my friends,
maybe Ons or Maria. Would be amazing to play in
front of my home crowd. I think that would It's
a very realistic dream. I think we'll make it happen
one day.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
And that's that for Day six of the Australian Open,
but plenty more big stories around the corner on day seven.
Join me again tomorrow as the fourth round gets underway.
In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to The AO Show,
and if you like what you're here, please leave a
rating and a comment that'll help more fans find us
and enjoy all of the great content we have to
offer on The AO Show.
Speaker 15 (29:00):
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